’Bows win on road

Julian Sensley puts away Boise State in Idaho to help UH snap a 10-game road losing streak

BOISE, Idaho » Yesterday's road game at Boise State had a familiar beginning but a much-needed and happier ending for the Hawaii basketball team.

Hawaii 73 Boise St. 64 Next Up vs. Fresno St., tomorrow

The Rainbow Warriors overcame a 13-point deficit in the first 7 minutes to score a 73-64 win over the Broncos in front of 4,140 fans at Taco Bell Arena to snap a 10-game road losing streak.

"We finally got it done," UH point guard Deonte Tatum said. "That's what we've been looking for. We played together and played with a lot of energy."

Julian Sensley scored a team-high 22 points, including a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left as the shot clock wound down that sealed the win for Hawaii (13-8 overall, 7-4 WAC) and moved the team into a tie for third place with Utah State, just a game behind co-leaders Nevada and Louisiana Tech in the conference standings.

"It feels good," Sensley said. "It's been a good trip all together. Nobody has been dropping their heads and everybody came to play. When we get like that on this team ... it's kind of how it was against Michigan State."

That November victory may have been Hawaii's most impressive, but yesterday's win over the Broncos (12-11, 5-7) may have been the most important. Hawaii had lost 20 of its past 22 road games and hadn't recorded a conference road win since Feb. 5, 2005 at San Jose State.

"Any road win for us is a good one," Rainbow Warrior coach Riley Wallace said. "This is one of the toughest places to play. I was looking on the Internet, and they rank in the top 50 toughest places to play in America over the years. It's been tough for us."

It started out that way, too. The Broncos scored the first seven points of the game and led 19-6 after Coby Karl (26 points) drained a 3-pointer with 13:16 left in the first half.

"We got off to a typical Boise start," said Wallace, whose team had lost its previous three games at BSU.

Hawaii slowly came back, closing to 20-17 at the 10:05 mark on a trey by Matt Lojeski (16 points) and 34-33 with 1:42 left on a bucket by Tatum, who scored 13 points.

"I told everyone 'No matter what, we've got to keep playing hard,'" Tatum said.

Sensley's 3-pointer with 1:20 left gave Hawaii its first lead at 36-34, then the Warriors blocked shots by BSU guard Eric Lane three times in the same possession. Sensley scored before the buzzer, giving Hawaii a 38-34 lead at the break.

What was the key to the turnaround?

"Energy," Sensley said. "We stayed in it. Usually we drop our heads and give up. We kept getting to the free-throw line. We didn't just settle for jumpers the whole game. (Early) they were beating us in transition, but in the last 3 or 4 minutes, we were able to get back and able to get a man and make them run their halfcourt sets."

That stopped what had been a productive Boise State attack. The Broncos, who made seven of their first 12 shots, managed only 37.3 percent for the game.

"We just played aggressive," Sensley said. "We were switching and were really alert defensively. If a guy was coming off a pick, we were able to switch and cover. More importantly, we got rebounds."

Hawaii, which shot 51.1 percent from the field, outrebounded the smaller Broncos 37-32, with Ahmet Gueye (14 points) leading the way with 11 boards. Matthew Gipson had eight rebounds.

Wallace liked how his team ended the first half and started the second. Hawaii used an 8-2 run in the first 3 minutes of the second half to extend its lead to 46-36.

"We came out focused in the second half and stayed with it," Wallace said. "We built the lead up to 10 and nursed it down the end."

Boise State, which got 11 points and 10 rebounds from Kareem Lloyd, tried to make it interesting. Karl drained a long 3-pointer to make it 66-62 with 1:07 left to play.

But the Broncos didn't foul on the ensuing possession, and Sensley hit the backbreaking trey with 34 seconds left to seal the deal.

"We didn't choose not to foul," BSU coach Greg Graham said. "We did not foul when the right guy (Tatum) had the ball. We didn't make the play."

Tatum said Sensley's shot came as no surprise.

"That was big," Tatum said. "Every time we needed a big play, he came through. He played a great game. We expect him to play like that."

And now that the burden of a 10-game losing streak is history, the Rainbow Warriors are eager to see if they can be a factor in the final month of the regular season. Hawaii plays at Fresno State tomorrow.

"It's just going to carry on from this," Sensley said. "Fresno's a beatable team, although they play well at home. We've got to go in there and have the same focus and mentality as we did coming in here today."

New Mexico St. 83, Utah St. 77

LOGAN, Utah » Elijah Ingram scored 24 points and Mike Mitchell scored 23 to lead New Mexico State (10-12, 6-5) over Utah State (16-6, 7-4) .

Tyrone Nelson added 16 points and David Fisher scored 13 points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for New Mexico State.

Utah State was led by Durrall Peterson with 21 points and seven rebounds.

Utah State led by five points midway through the second half, but was outscored 14-8 in the game's final three minutes. An unforced turnover in the final 90 seconds stalled Utah State's comeback and led to more free throws by New Mexico State.

Jaycee Carroll scored 32 points in a 93-86 loss at Las Cruses, N.M., but managed only 11 points on 4-for-9 shooting at home.

Fresno State 79, San Jose State 66

FRESNO, Calif. » Hector Hernandez recorded career highs with 25 points and four blocks, leading a second-half charge that propelled the Bulldogs (12-10, 5-6) past the Spartans (6-17, 2-8).

Ja'Vance Coleman added 23 points for Fresno State , helping the Bulldogs snap a two-game losing streak.

Alex Elam had 16 points for San Jose State, and Demetrius Brown added 15 points and eight rebounds.

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